Sunday, 10 March 2013

Evidence Of New, Larger Cluster Bombs Being Used In Syria

The following video from Idlib was posted online today, and shows a new type of cluster bomblet not yet seen in the conflict

With the help of Peter Bouckaert and Mark Hiznay of Human Rights Watch we've been able to identify this as a ShOAB-0.5 bomblet (a copy of the US BLU-26 bomblet), used with a RBK-500 cluster bomb dispenser, much larger than the RBK-250 cluster bomb dispensers used so far in the conflict. The following images show a complete bomblet, and a diagram of the bomblet

Compare the text on the bomblet in the above image to that on the bomblet in the video, shown below, and the match becomes clear

This is the first clear evidence of the larger RBK-500 cluster bomb dispenser being used in Syria, but there has been some evidence that they may have been used earlier. This image was posted online at the start of February

This is a nose fairing for a number of bombs, including the ZAB-500 incendiary bomb and various types of RBK-500 cluster bomb dispenser. Although this video filmed in the same area and on the same date as the above photograph showing a damaged tail fin surrounded by burning bomblets pointed me in the direction of it being a RBK-500 ZAB incendiary cluster bomb I wasn't 100% certain of a match. While that question remains open the ShOAB-0.5 bomblet seems to strongly indicate RBK-500 series cluster bombs are now in use in Syria, demonstrating yet another escalation in the Syrian air war.